Stats for nerds
8recommend
10mentions
10people
2010–2023years
80% recommend20% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- That quote is a bit outlier in my opinion. She doesn't do all that much technolecture like that.
The series is pretty full of sci-fi ideas and real application of them and exploration of their consequences though. I don't mean to imply it's sf in name only but really fantasy with search & replace.
It's a bit hard to pick a single first book to suggest, because while most of the series centers around a particular character Miles Vorkosigan, the first book I would suggest takes place a bit earlier and centers around his parents.
And then yet another difficulty is that book is a sequel to another, and it's hard to recommend not reading those two in order, even if I think the 2nd is the real heart and soul and spirtitual kicking-off point of the whole thing. And this is already including the fact that I'm already not being a slave to chronology, already skipping over some other prequels that really don't need to be read in order at all. They are hundreds of years earlier and do not need to be read in any particular order. It's just these two where, the real choice gem and spritual kicking-off-point of the whole thing in my opinion happens to be a close sequel to another that, IF you read the 2nd and liked it, then it it hurts the 1st a little to have to then read that after.
So I want to say Barrayar, but it is such a close sequel to Shards of Honor, that it should really be Shards of Honor. And really, it's not like Shards is weak. It's great. Very in-line with the rest in tone and quality. It is pretty much as good as any other as a litmus test for if you will like the rest.
The progression goes like, Shards is great and is I think a good place to start reading the whole thing, but Barrayar that comes next is even better, and BOTH of those still aren't even centered around Miles yet, who is the center of most of the rest. So it starts off great, gets better, and then better again, and yet I don't really think it would be great to start with one of the Miles books, even if you are testing to see if you maybe don't even care for the style or the series in general. Test a whole series without spending any time with that series main character???? Yeah. Well that's why I say a bit hard to pick a suggestion ;)
I guess I can say it this way: It's definitely safe that if you did like Shards that you then somehow won't like all the Miles books. The trasition to to following Miles around won't be like "Wtf is this crap? My good series went bad!" And it's pretty safe that if you did not like Shards, that the others aren't different enough that you would love them and miss out by a false negative impression from Shards.
Shards of Honor.
- City - Clifford D Simack
All of Miles Vorkosigan books by Lois Bujold
Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh
Stand in Zanzibar John Bruner
Adiamante - LE Modesitt Jr
Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen
Known Space series by Larry Niven and ALL of his collaborations with Jerry Pournelle
Midshipman’s Hope by David Feintuch
Gateway - Fredrick Pohl
Lord Valentine’s Castle by Robert Silverberg
- I think this is a fair critique, if a bit hyperbolic.
One point overlooked is that the predominant form of science fiction was, for some decades, short stories. Salvor Hardin was as richly imagined a character as Bayta Darell, but he only appeared in short stories (or novellas); he was the hero for about half of Foundation. The sequels were novels; the women were accordingly more memorable; and by the way, I found grandaughter more memorable than grandmother anyway.
Another point overlooked is the happy introduction of the vivid, lovable rogue. Nicholas van Rijn is an excellent example, even if by profession he is a tycoon. Lazarus Long is another; I found him a lot more vivid than the article's author evidently did. Fafryd and the Grey Mouser are Exhibits 3A and 3B, although that's fantasy, and even Lord of the Rings had vivid characters, so perhaps the criticism never applied to fantasy at all.
On the other hand -- as much as I adore Zelazny, his heroes are pretty much all the same. They're jaded and cynical, witty in their cynicism, and usually very altruistic even so. Usually they're quasi-immortal demigods too, with the most important counterexample that part probably being the poet in A Rose For Ecclesiastes.
Dune deserves a mention as being fairly early in the genre for having great characterization. Also Ann McCaffrey's Pern books, but those are really fantasies with a thin SF veneer.
Getting more modern yet, I agree that characterization is the norm rather than the exception. My favorite is probably Miles Vorkosigan. I have no idea how that series could win so many Hugos and Nebulas and still seem to be relatively unknown.
- Awesome places to get DRM free ebooks:
Baen has their entire catalog online, DRM free: http://www.webscription.net/ They also include CDs with some p-books that have the complete collection of a given series, which you can download for free here: http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ (Check out the Miles Vorkosigan series and the Honorverse series, if you're looking for some good reading.)
All Tor/Macmillan ebooks are available DRM free from Google, Amazon, and everywhere else they are sold.
Where are your favorite sources of DRM free books?
- A shrewd thing to do is read HPMOR's author notes and take reading recommendations from there: http://hpmor.com/notes/
A few that really stand out:
The Ethshar books - to parapharse EY, the author creates the world and the characters, then he throws them together and watches what happens.
Vorkosigan Saga - if EY's Harry has an inspiration, it's Miles Vorkosigan.
- Just finished CryoBurn by Lois McMaster Bujold, probably the last in her Miles Vorkosigan series. Any of her works are excellent, but she's (rightfully) best-known for her Miles books.
